Cookies was my girlfriend’s family’s dog, who died earlier tonight. Eerily, I was actually at their house maybe 20 minutes before Cookies died. When I first got there, she seemed happy to see me, and even better than she had been the last time I saw her when she just kind of shambled up to me as opposed to the enthusiastic greeting I was used to. Not long after that, though, she started panting as though she had just run a marathon, which I had never heard her do before (This wasn’t ordinary dog panting, mind you, it was closer to what a human who had just intensely exerted themselves would sound like), and which frankly freaked me out. She eventually calmed down, and seemed okay, if tired, when I left. On my way home, I checked my text messages to see “Cookies just died”. I got home and called my girlfriend, and literally asked her “What do you mean Cookies just died?”
See, I don’t handle death well. Logically, I know that most pets have short lifespans compared to humans, and Cookies was over ten years old, apparently pushing the upper limit of how long a Black Lab is supposed to live. And further, she’d been in pain for awhile, which was fairly obvious–my girlfriend had wanted to put her down awhile back, but her family, maybe out of attachment to the dog, said no. So in that sense, it was probably for the best.
But the thing is, I didn’t think of Cookies as really being that old, even for a dog. Shelby, my aunt’s GIANT* BICHON** FRIEZE OF DOOM***, lived to be either 14 or 15, I can’t honestly remember (Dearest Aunt, I know you read this, feel free to set me straight). So Cookies was practically still young to me, even though she had been there all the time since my girlfriend and I started dating (Almost 8 years now. Wow.). So it’s weird to me that she just..won’t be there anymore, I guess. And as I said, I don’t handle death well in general, which is in fact one of the main reasons I don’t want a pet–I don’t want to deal with the various emotions that come up when the pet invariably passes away.
*sigh*
In other, less depressing news, Akismet is working nicely. I have no idea what the name actually means (According to this, it takes its name because the program is Kismet by Automattic), but Akismet is a program that filters out spam comments before I or anyone else ever sees them. As Supreme Overlord and Dictator Site Owner and Administrator of emptyeye.com, I can see how many comments it’s blocking, plus the comments themselves if I so choose. It’s applying the smackdown to porn bots and other things quite well. Good for you, Akismet! Have a cookie!
I also think I’ve picked a game to Let’s Play that no one else has done before. And it won’t be a speedrun! Indeed, it can’t be a speedrun (At least by SDA rules), because while I own the game (By “own” I mean “Have a copy in my possession that was given to me”), I don’t own the system to play it on, meaning I’ll have to resort to emulation to actually record it. I think my cousin will be very pleased with the choice, if he hasn’t figured it out already.
Finally, I know some of you out there have downloaded my Rygar Speedrun Commentary. Seriously, let me know what you think. My ego can take it. My ego would actually prefer to take it, as it would give me a good excuse to not do commentaries for my significantly longer runs.
-EE
*-“GIANT BICHON FRIEZE” is something of an oxymoron. It’s true that Shelby was relatively huge for a Bichon Frieze, but she was still pretty small compared to most other species of dog (A fact only reinforced by living next to a Chocolate Lab and a Rottweiler for several years).
**-I have no idea if the correct spelling is “Bichon” or “Bishon”. Neither Google nor Firefox spellcheck are any help.
***-Okay, now I’m just flat-out lying–Shelby was extremely friendly, and pretty much totally harmless, both because she was small (as mentioned above, a “GIANT BICHON FRIEZE” is still not very big), and because she had a very laid back demeanor–it was very rare to even hear her bark at anything.
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Poor Cookies– but sounds like she had a good run, especially for a purebred. Purebreds generally live about 3-5 years less than mutts (inbreeeding will do that) and little dogs like Shelby can live 12-15 years. Cats a bit longer, 15-20– sometimes even more! I understand your thoughts but my two cents: if I was worried about all the loss I’d have in 15 years, I’d never get out of bed. Pets are wonderful pals and worth it, even if it’s a hard goodbye when the time comes.
As for the game, I assume you can only mean Y’s Books I and II (which is ALWAYS a good playthrough). Still my #1 game of all time. It plays great on the Magic Engine, what a classic!!
I haven’t had time to watch the Rygar commentary yet but I’ll check it out this weekend. And yes, Shelby was a sweet pooch though I can’t count the number of times my Dad either wiped out or almost wiped out hopping the “Shelby gate”.
Sorry to hear about that, E. I liked the Rygar commentary, thought it was pretty good. I would definitely like to see the same for both Battletoads runs.
Thanks Jamie. I think the major reason that we held on to Cookies so long, was because Lissy grew up with her and didn’t want to accept that she was in great pain. It was kinda bad for me because I was actually holding her when she passes.
But yeah. The run was pretty good. I mean, I’m by NO means an expert on what commentary is supposed to be. But it was good. if I didn’t fall asleep, it was good in my book. :)
Oh yeah, Empty, we don’t want to give Cookies to Akismet. . . .
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Thanks everyone.
And yeah, I realized my choice of rewards for Akismet was probably not the best about 14 hours after I wrote it. Oops. Oh well, marvel at my incompetence I guess.
Glad people seem to be enjoying the commentary. Frankly, I should improve those Battletoads runs at some point, so they’d probably be the last ones to get commentary.
And yes, good job figuring out the game I’m gonna Let’s Play! I bounced back and forth between that and Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden, a freeware RPG starring Charles Barkley in a post-apocalyptic New York City where basketball has been outlawed (Yes, really). In the end, though, I decided to go with the game I’m more familiar with, at least mostly (Around the Canals in Ys II is where I’ll get really rusty, which will either be captivating or extremely boring, I’m not sure which).
I can certainly empathize with what Jess and her family are going through. It was tough when Shelby-dog died, too. But, as James said, it was certainly worth it: even if (and I don’t know if you’d remember this) when I used to babysit you (wow, talk about a long time ago) and we came in from being someplace (maybe picking you up from karate) and she was on your kitchen table, not being able to figure out how to get down (Bichon’s are not the smartest dogs, but the cutest) and the rice that was in a dish on the table before somehow disappeared.
And by the way, she was 5,230 days old when she died – approximately 14.33 years old.
Shelby was great :) Any dog that can be around that many kids and still be as sweet as she was should be nominated for doggie sainthood!
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Favorite Aunt: I do remember that! You’re right that it was when you had picked me up from karate, though if I remember right (And I probably don’t), the bowl that Shelby happened to be near on the table when its contents magically disappeared had some type of Chinese noodle in it..Lo Mein maybe? Is that even Chinese? Oh well.
I also remember soon after Alex got bit by a (Considerably meaner than Shelby, apparently) dog, and spent awhile after it being afraid of all dogs…including Shelby, who as we’ve already mentioned was about the least aggressive dog in existence. I don’t think she ever bit anyone , or even growled at anyone that I can remember (Even barking was rather rare for her).
And thanks for clarifying how old she was when she died, too–I couldn’t remember, as I said.
Oh, maybe it was some sort of noodles in the bowl.
Yes, I saw Shelby try to bite some’one’ – Lucky, who, for those that don’t remember him, was the German Shepherd who was Shelby’s best dog friend growing up and who happened to live downstairs from us. Good thing Lucky was also a good dog. They would play outside in our fenced in yard chasing each other around. One time Shelby was jealous that I was playing with Lucky outside instead of her so she tried biting him. Sometimes I think Shelby didn’t realize she wasn’t a German Shepherd cause she would bark at anything walking by, as long as there was something between her and whatever was walking (fence, window, etc). So, yes, Marc she did bark cause she was tough.
Wow. Compared to that story, Cookies sounds like a calm dog. The only time she ever tried to bite us, was when she was a puppy. She was afraid of all dogs, even if they were smaller than her. If one started barking, she wanted to run into the house. :) I remember that the only time she got along with a dog, was my aunt’s pooch. A dalmation and about the same size, even though Cookies was a year older than her. They played for a bit, and then gave up and stretched out in the sun to sunbathe. Geez, you’d think the two of them were human.
And the Akismet comment, was meant as a joke. Sheesh. Can’t you tell that I was trying to be funny. :)
After all these years, I had wished that you could tell when I was trying to be funny and all that. . .
Nah, just kidding again. Anyway, thanks for the comment FAVORITE AUNT. Hey, it DOES get easier, right?